Writing at the New Republic, Simon Lazarus of the left-leaning Constitutional Accountability Center says “the recent surge of libertarianism among conservative academics, advocates, politicians and, of course, voters… has shown up among court-focused conservative constituencies and advocates and begun to register at the Supreme Court.” He cites the Cato Institute’s remarkably successful amicus curiae season (mentioned earlier in this space) and discerns in the majority an “appetite for doctrinal resets aimed at crippling federal regulatory power.”

In response, Randy Barnett, whose writings have been influential in advancing what libertarian tendencies may exist on the Court, writes “I wish it were so. … For a few reasons, the Court has become more ‘libertarian’ than its members.” Ilya Somin disputes Lazarus’s claim that the ObamaCare challenge invited the Court “‘to junk the “New Deal settlement” that bars constitutional interference with regulatory and safety net legislation.’ Even if the challengers had prevailed on every point at issue in that case, Congress would still have sweeping authority to regulate virtually any ‘economic activity,’ and state governments would have even greater regulatory authority than that.”

Filed under: constitutional law, Supreme Court